Soulmates
by Jackson the Griffin-Breeder
Summary: Kyoya is her best friend, and there's no way she'd let anyone change that.


Haruhi sat in an overstuffed armchair in the slightly-too-large apartment Kyoya took up when he decided to continue his education in the United States. She looked down at her English textbook in frustration. Studying in the US meant studying in English—but at least the university had a program for international students.

Her first week there, she'd learned that studying in her dorm room wasn't an option. It's not that her roommate was inconsiderate, she just had a learning style that required background noise and a lot of movement, and Haruhi couldn't handle it. She would have considered asking Tish to leave the room to study, but the library wasn't so keen on noise either, and Tish didn't have any family or friends in the area. Considering she was the one with options, she conscientiously took them. After the library closed at 8, she'd pack her books up and head over to Kyoya's ridiculous apartment, which was never particularly noisy and always had good food. In the semester they had been there, the bond they'd formed in high school had moved from "close" to "inseparable".

At the moment, Kyoya was dicing tomatoes with practiced precision and dumping them into a simmering pot on the stove that smelled suspiciously amazing. He'd turned out to be a fantastic cook (unfortunately(?) for Haruhi), and cooking had become an outlet for stress. Haruhi was trying to study, but the longer whatever that was on the stove cooked, the better it smelled, and the hungrier she got. Finally, she gave up with a tired sigh and made her way over to the breakfast bar, sitting down across from him. He glanced up. "What's wrong, Haruhi? Had enough studying for the day yet?"

Normally she would have laughed and made a sarcastic retort (probably about his cooking skills, or possibly his own studies), but today she narrowed her eyes at him and said, "Hey, what do you want to do on Friday?"

He blinked. "Don't you have a date?"

She snatched a piece of tomato and popped it in her mouth before answering. "I did, but now I don't. What's it to you?"

There was a pause as he slid the rest of the tomato chunks into the pot and began skinning a clove of garlic. "I thought you liked the guy," he said, placing the garlic on the cutting board and smashing it with the side of his knife.

She shrugged. "Yeah, I thought so too. Oh well."

He looked up and waited for her to make eye contact. She was carefully studying the clove of garlic still on the cutting board, but when his hands didn't move she looked up, warily. "What?"

"Were you planning on telling me what happened?"

She scrunched up her nose at him. "It's none of your business, Kyoya."

He blinked again. Whatever that boy had done, he was going to get it. She always told him what was wrong. _It must be bad_. "You are my best friend, Haruhi. Of course it's my business." He thought his voice probably sounded a little worried, but she would have noticed anyway. Even distracted, she read him better than anyone ever had.

She sighed again. "So I suppose you ran your standard background check on him, then."

His grimace betrayed him. "I found nothing, not on him, at least. His father has had a few infractions, but I'm not really one to judge a person on their parents. Why, did you discover something I didn't?"

"No," she said thoughtfully, "No, I didn't. He just—well, anyway, I broke up with him. No big deal."

He continued his cooking, waiting for her to explain, but his patience wore out as the chili began to boil. "What happened, Haruhi?"

"He gave me an ultimatum. I told him not to, I told him he'd loose. I don't know why he thought it was a good idea to do it anyway."

"An ultimatum?"

She waved her hand around for emphasis. "Yeah, he said something about 'spending too much time with other men' and 'I should be enough', but that just means 'I don't trust you', you know? Anyhow, I would have given him time to come around and start trusting me, but he said I had to pick one guy and stick with it. I told him he'd loose."

He found he was spending a lot of time blinking at her tonight. "He asked you to pick one guy for what?"

"I don't know," she shrugged, "just 'one guy'. I told him you were my best friend and I wasn't giving that up, but he wouldn't listen. He told me I had to pick him or you, so, obviously, I broke up with him. I mean, seriously? Did he think I was going to pick someone who doesn't trust me over my best friend?"

"Not to mention, I'm a pretty great cook," he muttered, trying to absorb the information.

She laughed. "Yeah, I picked you for your culinary skills. I should have told him that, I wonder what he would have done?"

He turned away to stir his creation and think.

"Haruhi?"

She rested her head on her hand and looked up at the back of his head. "Yeah?"

There was a pause before he answered, but she waited patiently. Whatever he had to say, he'd say it.

He sighed and turned to face her. "I don't want you to give anything up because of me. I will always be here for you, but I hope you won't sacrifice your chance at happiness because you think you need to stick with me. I promise I won't hate you."

"Kyoya, I didn't break up with him out of a sense of obligation. It wasn't a sacrifice. I mean, what kind of a relationship would we have, anyway? What kind of a guy separates a girl from her best friend and then expects her to be happy about it? That's ridiculous."

He nodded thoughtfully.

"Besides," she said, "if I ever did stop talking to you because I was dating a guy who told me to, you had better be angry with me. In that situation, I expect you to come talk some sense into me, alright? Seriously, if you let me be with a guy that wants to control my friendships with other people, I will never forgive you."

"Hmm," he considered, "well, when you put it like that. I certainly wouldn't want you to end up married to someone who thought they could dictate your decisions to you. You are much too independent for that—you'd probably go mad."

Her smile warmed up his heart, like it always did. He was suddenly glad she wasn't dating that guy anymore. He may have been acceptable, but he wasn't anywhere near good enough for Haruhi. Not that anyone was, to be honest.

"See? That's why I picked you. You let me be myself—not to mention you cook really great food. What else do I need?"

He laughed. He was starting to sound like a housewife. The image of himself in a ruffley apron with a broom, welcoming her home from a day at the office came to mind—and surprisingly, it sounded pretty great. If he was going to spend the rest of his life with someone, he'd pick his best friend every time. Not that he'd admit that. Not the apron bit, anyway.

He served up the chili and set a bowl in front of each of them, pulling out the bar stool from under the counter and sitting where he had been standing. "It's chili. I had it in a restaurant last week with that guy I'm doing that project with. I figured I'd give it a try. It looks like a mess, but it did in the restaurant too. I think it's supposed to."

She took a small bite, blowing on it to cool it off first. "It's pretty good!" she declared, taking larger bites.

"Thanks."

He thought for a moment, while they ate. She had just given up a relationship with a guy she'd liked for the sake of this friendship. What was he supposed to do with that_? Am I obligated to always sacrifice for her, too? _He thought. _Not that I wouldn't, come to think of it. As much as I'd like to get married and settle down, I don't think I could ever be with someone who didn't accept her, too. Perhaps we are a package deal? _

It was Haruhi's turn to play the psychologist. "What are you thinking about, Kyoya?"

He sighed. It was fairly useless keeping secrets from her, so he figured he'd go for it. "You know I'd pick you, too, right? I mean, if I'd been in the same situation."

She smiled. "Of course you would. I mean, unless you found someone who could always tell when something was wrong and how to fix it. Then I might be out of a job."

He chuckled, "There's more to this friendship than understanding, you know. I also just genuinely like you. I mean, I want to have my own family one day, but if I've got to give this up to do so, I'm just going to have to be Japan's most eligible bachelor for the next 50 years or so."

She tapped her chin in thought. "Well, that would just be stupid. If it comes down to it, you can just marry me."

He almost choked, but grabbed the nearby glass of water and chugged.

"Oh come on, don't tell me you haven't thought about it. I mean, we might not be romantically attached, but I have no intention of ever leaving you behind. If my options are to marry someone who doesn't like you, or live alone for the rest of my life, I'll make my own third option and just live with you. You're practically family anyway."

He put down the glass of water and picked up his spoon. "That's actually a really great plan. I'd be honored to be your back-up spouse."

She smiled up at him, a soft twinkle in her eyes. "It's a deal."

The leftover chili was put away (Haruhi would have taken some home but it would have been useless as she would be back the next day anyway), and the last of the dishes had been loaded into the dishwasher. Haruhi was packing her books away when Kyoya cleared his throat.

"What is it, Kyoya?"

He looked a bit nervous, unsure of how what he had to say would be received. Suddenly, his expression turned determined, and he opened his mouth to speak.

"Haruhi, do you believe in soulmates?"

That was not what she had expected. "I think so. I mean, I don't know about destiny, but I'm sure there are people who feel they are an integral part of each other's lives. Why?"

He gulped, but pressed on. "I do. I didn't think I did, but I do. I'm not sure that everyone has a soulmate, but I'm sure they exist."

She left her books for a moment and walked over to take his hand. "What is it, Kyoya? What's bothering you?"

He squeezed her hand and smiled a little, soft smile. "I don't think that having a soulmate automatically makes you romantically attracted to them. I mean, I think Hikaru and Kaoru are probably soulmates, and they aren't like that. Sometimes friendship is the strongest form of affection. I just—" he sighed.

She cocked her head to the side and smiled. "Kyoya, do you think we are soulmates?

It is uncertain how long they stood there, searching out each other's eyes, but to them it seemed a comfortable forever.

"Yes, yes I do."

She laughed. "Good, 'cause so do I."


End file.
